Article
Ecology
Joseph A. LaManna, F. Andrew Jones, David M. Bell, Robert J. Pabst, David C. Shaw
Summary: The diversity of species varies with elevation and latitude, which is related to biotic interactions. This study found that the effects of conspecific density dependence vary with elevation, which may have important implications for the relationships between species diversity, elevation, and climate.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hanni Jin, Jing Xu, Yu Peng, Jiaxun Xin, Nanyi Peng, Yanyi Li, Jijiao Huang, Ruiqiang Zhang, Chen Li, Yimeng Wu, Bingzhang Gong, Ronghui Wang
Summary: This study examines the relationship between plant species diversity and landscape patterns using a global standardized plant community database and land use and land cover maps. The results show that landscape patterns have a significant impact on plant diversity, particularly in terms of species richness and heterogeneity. It also found that plants adapt to landscape patterns through variations in functional traits. Therefore, the study recommends balancing the spatial structure of patch- and landscape-level patterns to enhance variation in functional traits and maintain global plant diversity.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Editorial Material
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Meghna Krishnadas
Summary: Neighbouring plants play a role in shaping the performance of their own species and other species. Understanding how these interactions change with rainfall can help explain patterns of plant diversity and predict responses to global environmental change.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Carlos P. Carmona, C. Guillermo Bueno, Aurele Toussaint, Sabrina Traeger, Sandra Diaz, Mari Moora, Alison D. Munson, Meelis Paertel, Martin Zobel, Riin Tamme
Summary: The coordination and trade-off of plant traits have significant implications globally, with both aboveground and fine-root planes displaying high levels of species aggregation.
Article
Ecology
Aubrie R. M. James, Margaret M. Mayfield, John M. Dwyer
Summary: Applications of ecological theory often assume that negative density-dependent processes are the only important interaction for diversity maintenance in natural communities. However, recent advances have shown that positive interactions between plants may also affect plant coexistence. This study tested for variable density and frequency dependence in annual flowering plant communities in Western Australia and found that different species exhibited different patterns of density and frequency dependence. Pollinator-mediated plant-plant interactions during flowering induced nonmonotonic density dependence and negative frequency dependence in one species. The findings suggest that the dominance of negative density and frequency dependence in theory may need to be reevaluated.
Article
Ecology
Markus Gastauer, Simone Kuster Mitre, Carolina S. Carvalho, Leonardo C. Trevelin, Priscila S. M. Sarmento, Joao A. A. Meira Neto, Cecilio Frois Caldeira, Silvio Junio Ramos, Rodolfo Jaffe
Summary: This study assessed the impact of habitat amount, isolation, and environmental heterogeneity on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of specific canga vegetation in the Eastern Amazon. Results indicated that landscape roughness increased species densities and functional richness, while habitat amount was positively associated with phylogenetic relatedness and functional diversity in communities.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Anna-Liisa Laine
Summary: Plant diseases are being influenced by changes in host biodiversity, spatial structure, and abiotic conditions due to global environmental changes. The understanding and prediction of disease dynamics are becoming more challenging as both plant and pathogen populations and communities undergo extensive change. Feedback loops between plants and their pathogens are expected to drive changes in disease risk through ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. The increase in disease risk as a result of ongoing change highlights the importance of mitigating global environmental change to ensure food security and ecosystem functioning.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Francesco Maria Sabatini, Borja Jimenez-Alfaro, Ute Jandt, Milan Chytry, Richard Field, Michael Kessler, Jonathan Lenoir, Franziska Schrodt, Susan K. Wiser, Mohammed A. S. Arfin Khan, Fabio Attorre, Luis Cayuela, Michele De Sanctis, Jurgen Dengler, Sylvia Haider, Mohamed Z. Hatim, Adrian Indreica, Florian Jansen, Anibal Pauchard, Robert K. Peet, Petr Petrik, Valerio D. Pillar, Brody Sandel, Marco Schmidt, Zhiyao Tang, Peter van Bodegom, Kiril Vassilev, Cyrille Violle, Esteban Alvarez-Davila, Priya Davidar, Jiri Dolezal, Bruno Herault, Antonio Galan-de-Mera, Jorge Jimenez, Stephan Kambach, Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas, Holger Kreft, Felipe Lezama, Reynaldo Linares-Palomino, Abel Monteagudo Mendoza, Justin K. N'Dja, Oliver L. Phillips, Gonzalo Rivas-Torres, Petr Sklenar, Karina Speziale, Ben J. Strohbach, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Hua-Feng Wang, Karsten Wesche, Helge Bruelheide
Summary: “Global patterns of regional plant diversity are relatively well known, but whether they hold for local communities is debated. This study created multi-grain global maps of alpha diversity for vascular plants to provide a nuanced understanding of plant diversity hotspots and improve predictions of global change effects on biodiversity.”
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Paulo H. S. A. Camargo, Tomas A. Carlo, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, Marco A. Pizo
Summary: The diversity of bird frugivores plays a crucial role in seed dispersal and seed rain in tropical forest landscapes, particularly in fragmented areas. The activity of frugivores is positively correlated with bird diversity and seed rain diversity, with an increase in the dispersal of rare plant species leading to higher overall diversity in seed rain. Loss of bird species and simplification of avian communities could have detrimental effects on plant communities in tropical landscapes.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hongwei Xu, Qiang Liu, Shaoyong Wang, Guisen Yang, Sha Xue
Summary: The study found that exotic species invasion significantly enhanced soil pH, microbial activity, and nutrient content, while decreasing plant diversity, richness, and evenness. Soil pH, organic carbon, and total nitrogen were significantly correlated with reduced plant diversity. These effects were influenced by exotic species types and precipitation levels.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Maud Bernard-Verdier, Birgit Seitz, Sascha Buchholz, Ingo Kowarik, Sara Lasuncion Mejia, Jonathan M. Jeschke
Summary: A study in Berlin found that urbanization and the introduction of non-native plants have increased the abundance and diversity of pollen allergens in urban grasslands. Although non-native plants are not inherently more allergenic than native plants, they contribute to a greater biochemical diversity of allergens and flower later, potentially creating a wider spectrum of allergy risks. Managing these risks will require targeted measures and habitat-based policies to promote diverse, low-allergenicity vegetation.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Binhao Wang, Jianming Xu, Yiling Wang, Erinne Stirling, Kankan Zhao, Caiyu Lu, Xiangfeng Tan, Dedong Kong, Qingyun Yan, Zhili He, Yunjie Ruan, Bin Ma
Summary: Antibiotic overuse and environmental contamination of residual antibiotics contribute to the global spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) through horizontal gene transfer. This study investigated the antibiotic resistance of soilborne pathogens at a global scale, identifying 407 ARG-carrying pathogens (APs) in 1443 samples. Agricultural soils exhibited a higher richness of APs compared to non-agricultural ecosystems, with a prevalence of clinical APs affiliated with Escherichia, Enterobacter, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus. A global map of soil AP richness was generated, highlighting hot spots in East Asia, South Asia, and the eastern United States, which can guide efforts to control soilborne APs worldwide.
Article
Ecology
Andrea Cavalieri, Dorothee Gross, Alexandra Dutay, Jacob Weiner
Summary: The study found that the total biomass production of plant monocultures tends to stabilize as density increases, known as constant final yield (CFY). Through a series of experiments, it was confirmed that CFY exists in communities of annual species, where individual species' contributions to biomass production remain relatively insensitive to increases in density above CFY.
Article
Ecology
Fiona Jevon, Dayna De la Cruz, Joseph A. LaManna, Ashley K. Lang, David A. Orwig, Sydne Record, Paige Kouba, Matthew P. Ayres, Jaclyn Hatala Matthes
Summary: Conspecific negative density dependence promotes tree species diversity in temperate forests and is related to tree species traits and ecological attributes.
Article
Plant Sciences
Melanie Tietje, Alexandre Antonelli, Felix Forest, Rafael Govaerts, Stephen A. Smith, Miao Sun, William J. Baker, Wolf L. Eiserhardt
Summary: Regions with high unique phylogenetic diversity (PD) are important for conservation. The global distribution of plant PD remains poorly understood, but our analysis using a comprehensive global checklist of vascular plants identifies hotspots of unique plant PD. Our results support three hypotheses: PD is more evenly distributed than species diversity, areas of highest PD do not maximize cumulative PD, and multiple biomes are needed to maximize cumulative PD.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Deon Lum, Pablo A. Tedesco, Bernard Hugueny, XingLi Giam, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: This study compared two models of undetected extinctions in estimating the true number of undetected extinctions, finding that the SEUX model performed better when detection rates were independent of species abundance. Analysis of real-world data sets showed that undetected extinctions may be higher than observed values, with the SEUX model yielding lower absolute estimates compared to the Tedesco model in most cases. The correlation between detection and extinction rates across species in some data sets suggests that the actual biodiversity loss in these groups may be more severe than documented.
CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
(2021)
Review
Ecology
Lisa Huelsmann, Ryan A. Chisholm, Florian Hartig
Summary: Studies have found evidence of conspecific negative density dependence (CNDD) in local populations, but it remains challenging to assess whether CNDD scales up to control community diversity and affect local and global biodiversity patterns. More robust statistical methods, new study designs, and eco-evolutionary models are needed for a more definite evaluation of the importance of CNDD for geographic variation in plant species diversity.
TRENDS IN ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Stuart J. Davies, Iveren Abiem, Kamariah Abu Salim, Salomon Aguilar, David Allen, Alfonso Alonso, Kristina Anderson-Teixeira, Ana Andrade, Gabriel Arellano, Peter S. Ashton, Patrick J. Baker, Matthew E. Baker, Jennifer L. Baltzer, Yves Basset, Pulcherie Bissiengou, Stephanie Bohlman, Norman A. Bourg, Warren Y. Brockelman, Sarayudh Bunyavejchewin, David F. R. P. Burslem, Min Cao, Dairon Cardenas, Li-Wan Chang, Chia-Hao Chang-Yang, Kuo-Jung Chao, Wei-Chun Chao, Hazel Chapman, Yu-Yun Chen, Ryan A. Chisholm, Chengjin Chu, George Chuyong, Keith Clay, Liza S. Comita, Richard Condit, Susan Cordell, Handanakere S. Dattaraja, Alexandre Adalardo de Oliveira, Jan den Ouden, Matteo Detto, Christopher Dick, Xiaojun Du, Alvaro Duque, Sisira Ediriweera, Erle C. Ellis, Nestor Laurier Engone Obiang, Shameema Esufali, Corneille E. N. Ewango, Edwino S. Fernando, Jonah Filip, Gunter A. Fischer, Robin Foster, Thomas Giambelluca, Christian Giardina, Gregory S. Gilbert, Erika Gonzalez-Akre, I. A. U. N. Gunatilleke, C. V. S. Gunatilleke, Zhanqing Hao, Billy C. H. Hau, Fangliang He, Hongwei Ni, Robert W. Howe, Stephen P. Hubbell, Andreas Huth, Faith Inman-Narahari, Akira Itoh, David Janik, Patrick A. Jansen, Mingxi Jiang, Daniel J. Johnson, F. Andrew Jones, Mamoru Kanzaki, David Kenfack, Somboon Kiratiprayoon, Kamil Kral, Lauren Krizel, Suzanne Lao, Andrew J. Larson, Yide Li, Xiankun Li, Creighton M. Litton, Yu Liu, Shirong Liu, Shawn K. Y. Lum, Matthew S. Luskin, James A. Lutz, Hong Truong Luu, Keping Ma, Jean-Remy Makana, Yadvinder Malhi, Adam Martin, Caly McCarthy, Sean M. McMahon, William J. McShea, Herve Memiaghe, Xiangcheng Mi, David Mitre, Mohizah Mohamad, Logan Monks, Helene C. Muller-Landau, Paul M. Musili, Jonathan A. Myers, Anuttara Nathalang, Kang Min Ngo, Natalia Norden, Vojtech Novotny, Michael J. O'Brien, David Orwig, Rebecca Ostertag, Konstantinos Papathanassiou, Geoffrey G. Parker, Rolando Perez, Ivette Perfecto, Richard P. Phillips, Nantachai Pongpattananurak, Hans Pretzsch, Haibo Ren, Glen Reynolds, Lillian J. Rodriguez, Sabrina E. Russo, Lawren Sack, Weiguo Sang, Jessica Shue, Anudeep Singh, Guo-Zhang M. Song, Raman Sukumar, I-Fang Sun, Hebbalalu S. Suresh, Nathan G. Swenson, Sylvester Tan, Sean C. Thomas, Duncan Thomas, Jill Thompson, Benjamin L. Turner, Amanda Uowolo, Maria Uriarte, Renato Valencia, John Vandermeer, Alberto Vicentini, Marco Visser, Tomas Vrska, Xugao Wang, Xihua Wang, George D. Weiblen, Timothy J. S. Whitfeld, Y. Wolf, S. Joseph Wright, Han Xu, Tze Leong Yao, Sandra L. Yap, Wanhui Ye, Mingjian Yu, Minhua Zhang, Daoguang Zhu, Li Zhu, Jess K. Zimmerman, Daniel Zuleta
Summary: ForestGEO is a network of scientists and long-term forest dynamics plots that aims to advance understanding of forest diversity and dynamics, as well as strengthen global capacity for forest science research. With large-scale plot dimensions, comprehensive censusing, and investigation of various biotic and abiotic drivers, ForestGEO provides a holistic view of forest functioning. Through extensive research, ForestGEO has made significant contributions in areas such as species coexistence and diversity, and ecosystem functioning, while also highlighting the need for further research to predict the impacts of climate change and other stressors on forest diversity and function.
BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Ryan A. Chisholm, Tak Fung
Summary: Theoretical ecologists introduced a stage-structured neutral model, showing that the presence of a juvenile stage can significantly increase species richness. A case study on tropical forest trees in Panama revealed that while the stage-structured model made different predictions compared to the standard model, it did not solve known cross-scale prediction issues.
Article
Ecology
Yong Chee Keita Sin, Nadiah P. Kristensen, Chyi Yin Gwee, Ryan A. Chisholm, Frank E. Rheindt
Summary: Research on bird species diversity and composition on tropical shelf islands in Southeast Asia found that post-LGM effects on diversity are minimal, with present-day island characteristics such as area, distance to the mainland, and proportion of land surrounding the island within a 10 km radius being more explanatory. Avifaunal diversity is maintained by high immigration rates, especially on small islands, with over-water dispersal limited to short distances among Sundaic birds.
JOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Tak Fung, James P. O'Dwyer, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: The impact of temporal environmental stochasticity (TES) on species coexistence depends on the strength of temporal correlation, with weak correlation creating temporal niches and increasing species richness, while strong correlation intensifying interspecific competition and decreasing species richness. The direct effects of TES on species richness through temporal fluctuations in species abundances were found to be relatively minor compared to these indirect community effects.
Article
Ecology
Ryan A. Chisholm, Tak Fung
Summary: Theoretical and empirical studies suggest that increasing immigration leads to a transition in ecological communities from a niche-structured regime to an immigration-structured regime. Different ecological models predict a biphasic species-area relationship, while a unified model predicts an overall four-phase SAR with a rare shallow niche-structured phase usually observed in mainland SARs because of the immigration-structured regime.
THEORETICAL ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Hong Jhun Sim, Weng Ngai Lam, Ryan A. Chisholm, Kwek Yan Chong
Summary: This study investigates the stress-gradient hypothesis (SGH) in the context of consumer-resource interactions. The outcomes suggest that the specific algebraic forms of the functional responses do not affect the long-term behavior of the system, and the SGH holds only under specific conditions.
JOURNAL OF THEORETICAL BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biology
Deon Lum, Frank E. Rheindt, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: This study suggests that the knowledge of the evolutionary history of extant birds is almost complete and there are unlikely to be many highly evolutionarily novel discoveries in the future. The conclusions drawn from studies using avian phylogenies are likely to be robust to future species discoveries.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Ecology
Lynette H. L. Loke, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: This article reviews the methods of measuring complexity in ecology and provides a framework for measuring habitat complexity and spatial heterogeneity. The two most commonly used complexity metrics, fractal dimension and rugosity, are discussed and evaluated using practical examples. The article also discusses informational metrics of complexity and their potential benefits, and outlines the necessary criteria for future research on measuring habitat complexity.
Article
Ecology
Tak Fung, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: Neutral models in ecology assume that all species have equal demographic effects and their differences in abundance are mainly determined by demographic stochasticity rather than selection. These models have been found to accurately reproduce static patterns of biodiversity, but they exhibit slow dynamics and poor fits to temporally dynamic patterns of biodiversity.
THEORETICAL POPULATION BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nadiah P. Kristensen, Hisashi Ohtsuki, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: In this study, a mathematical model is used to explore the origin of human cooperation. The findings suggest that cooperation first evolved through kin selection in ancient humans due to genetic homophily, and continued to persist as social homophily decreased or interactions with strangers became common, explaining the coexistence of cooperators and defectors observed in the human population.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Ecology
Lynette H. L. Loke, Ryan A. Chisholm
Summary: In their critique, Madin et al. (2023) support the use of fractal dimension in ecology and defend their geometric constraint theory of habitat complexity. We address the flaws in their arguments and clarify their misinterpretation of our statements.
Article
Forestry
Fanhua Kong, Xiaorong Chen, Minhua Zhang, Yu Liu, Sha Jiang, Ryan A. Chisholm, Fangliang He
Summary: A long-standing paradigm in ecology states that species diversity in a community increases over succession. However, there is limited understanding of the accumulation of neighbourhood diversity and its contribution to community diversity. In this study, we investigated the neighbourhood diversity of different functional groups of trees in a forest plot in subtropical China. We found that early successional species played a crucial role in accumulating neighbourhood diversity and contributing to overall plant community diversity. These results highlight the importance of conserving secondary forests, which are predominantly composed of early successional species.
FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Review
Ecology
Ryan A. Chisholm, Tanvi Dutta Gupta
Summary: The question of whether biodiversity conservation and carbon conservation can be synergistic depends on the biodiversity-productivity relationship (BPR), a fundamental ecological pattern. Forests, which contribute greatly to both biodiversity and carbon, have a relatively poor understanding of the BPR. Research shows general support for a positive forest BPR, suggesting synergy between biodiversity and carbon conservation, but there are several major caveats.
